Paraguay sends graft probe documents to US

Paraguay is sending some 10,000 documents seized from the headquarters of the South American football confederation to US prosecutors investigating massive corruption in world football, officials said Wednesday.

"We are in the process of handing over the documents following a request from authorities in the United States," said Paraguay's prosecutor for money laundering cases, Hernan Galeano.

The contracts, receipts, accounting books, meeting minutes and other documents were seized last week during a 10-hour raid at the headquarters of CONMEBOL, the South American football governing body.

CONMEBOL's last three presidents have all been indicted by US prosecutors in the investigation into rampant corruption at FIFA.

Galeano, who led the raid on CONMEBOL headquarters, said the documents included contracts for marketing rights to the Copa Libertadores and Copa America, two top regional tournaments that sports marketing companies allegedly paid huge bribes to secure.

CONMEBOL is the umbrella group for 10 South American football associations.

Its headquarters had diplomatic immunity from 1992, but that privilege was withdrawn last year after the scandal erupted.

FIFA last month banned its longtime president Sepp Blatter over ethics violations amid the swirling scandal over allegations of multimillion-dollar bribes.